Greens: Boris is set to leave Londoners a polluted city built for cars

TfL is consulting on a new tunnel at Silvertown.Boris Johnson is set to leave Londoners a legacy of expensive, polluting roads which put cars ahead of public transport and cycling according a new report published by City Hall’s Green party politicians.

The Mayor and Transport for London have recently announced plans for a number of new road schemes, including river crossings at Silvertown and Gallions Reach and a 22 mile orbital tunnel which would take traffic under the capital.

London Assembly member Darren Johnson says the Mayor’s focus on more roads risks sending the city “back to a 1970s vision of a car-dominated future”.

In a report published today, he says the £28bn cost of the projects could be better spent extending the London Overground from Barking to Abbey Wood, building new river crossings “that encourage cycling and walking” and building the proposed Crossrail 2 service.

“Building more roads to ease congestion simply does not work as new roads attract new vehicles, just creating more traffic and more pollution.”

He added: “This city desperately needs clean, efficient ways of getting around such as new rail links, trams schemes, better bus services and proper cycle routes. This is what we need to be investing in, not more roads.”

Friends of the Earth London Campaigner, Jenny Bates, said: “With three to four thousand Londoners dying prematurely every year due to our dirty air the last thing the Mayor should be doing is adding to the problem by generating more traffic from new road crossings.”

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Comments

This really gives the Green Party zero creditibility. Boris is turning the embankment into segregated cycleway and billions spent on Crossrail et al. London needs world class roads and public transport of a similar standard to Madrid, Paris and New York to compete. Indeed when was the last underpass or significant new road last built in London? Paris have just spend billions on upgrading their A86, Madrid on their M30 ring roads – what does London have in comparison?

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